CoolMax CW-650T 650W Power Supply Review

     The CoolMax guys are back again, this time with a beefy 650 Watt power supply.  From their CW-Series of silent power supplies, this unit is all business.  With today's builds demanding more power with every new technology, the old 350 Watt standby just isn't cutting it.  You need more dependable power to keep things running right.  We put this 650 Watt monster to the test, right here at the Club.

       The CW-Series sits right in the middle of the CoolMax power supply stable.  These power supplies may not have the visual goodies found in their high-end CL-Series units, but the CW power supplies are targeting a different audience.  If you are looking for fancy lights and trendy colors, move on to the next review, this power supply is not for you.. Still here?  Lets look further at this no frills workhorse starting with the box.

     From the box you can see the  650 has all the no nonsense features you would desire in a high power unit; Active PFC, SLI ready, ATX V2.01 compatible and more.

     The box even shows both the available connectors and the power distribution.  I just don't understand why more manufacturers wont give you the power numbers up front.

The CW-650T is snugly packaged in the classic bubble wrap.

     Inside the box, we find the manual, power cable and the video card adapter.  The manual is simple and probably an unnecessary addition for most PC builders.

     The cables are all nicely sleeved and color matched in a basic black.  The unit is manufactured from Aluminum and finished in a glossy black.  The motherboard lead is a 24 pin with a breakaway for 20 pin installations.

     Taking a closer look at the bottom surface shows the 120 mm silent fan.  CoolMax has chosen to go with a single 120 mm fan for cooling which is unusual in a power supply of such a high rating.  The fan is controlled by an internal controller that can be set to one of three settings: Low, High or Automatic.  In the automatic setting the CoolMax "Super Noise Killer" actively adjusts the fan speed to help keep noise levels down without sacrificing performance.  The gold fan grill complements the black nicely.

     The rails are also prominently displayed on the side.  There is a lot of power here to be had.  Every rail has more than adequate amperage for most any build.  Active PFC means better efficiency and a regulated input voltage for increased stability.  It is a bit surprising to note the large amount of stickers applied to the sides of the CW-650T.  With this side facing my window, I find it hard to resist removing everything to show the polished black finish to the world.

     That's more like it.  The top and back surfaces look clean and attractive.  With no 80 mm fan in the back, a shiny silver logo against the large mesh surface really stands out.  Notice the switch for the fan control as well.  We have been seeing more of this type of controller lately and its a nice trend.  No lights or fancy fans keeps the price down.

Features:

Specifications:

AC INPUT		100~132VAC or 200~264VAC
MODEL	DC OUPUT	+3.3V	+5V	+12V1	-12V2	-12V	+5VSB
CW-650T	Max. Output Current	30A	60A	19A	19A	1A	2.5A
(650W)	Max. Combined	320W		440W		12A	12.5A

Unit Dimension (mm):		140Wx150Hx85L (mm)
Retail Box (mm):		215Wx235Hx100L (mm)
Master Box (mm):		265Wx320Hx505L (mm)
Unit Weight (kg):		3 kg
Gross Weight (kg):		17.5 kg
Pcs/ Ctn:		6 pcs/ctn

The Install:

     I installed the CT-650T in my ClubOC inspired black and green AMD gaming system.  The build consists of an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard, 2x512 OCZ EL Gold Series DDR, an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ cooled by an AeroCool GT-1000 heatsink.  The system includes both a Seagate 120 gig and a WD 80 gig, a Lite-on DVD burner, two BFG 6600GT OC video cards running in SLI.  Power is also drawn by 2 120 mm fans, and 1 80mm fan (two with LED lighting), three EL wire runs for the drive cables and 4 cold cathode lights.  All of this is mounted in my XION Gamer II case.  The system is also modestly overclocked to run at 215MHz.

     Installing the power supply was pretty straight forward.  I am pretty sure I could have found a way to include some other lighting but other than an additional drive or two, this is a pretty power hungry little box.  A little cable clean up and we are ready for testing.

     After letting the system idle for a day, I captured this BIOS Screen.  As you can see the power voltages are all pretty close to normal.  Without adjustable pots, having the voltage within the spec is critical.  These readings are safely within the ATX Specs although they could be higher.  All of my voltages were confirmed by my trusty Cen-Tech Multi-meter.

     Here I have captured the power readings using the ASUS PC Probe software after about an hour of benchmarking capped off with a session on PassMark's BurninTest to maximize power draw.  You can see from the picture how stable the rails are with just a slight drop off the +12V rail.

     For consistency I also used the ASUS PC Probe to record the settings at idle.  As you can see for these readings, the power distribution moves very little moving from load to idle and back.

Conclusion:

     The CoolMax CW-650T power supply may not have all the bling found on their high end power supplies, but it does have what counts.  Solid features and an extraordinary amount of power at its disposal.  As for the silent claims, I found the CT-650T to be on the quieter side of the power supplies I have tested and barely audible over the case fans at load.  If you are the kind of PC builder that shrugs off windows and lights in favor of raw performance, the CW-650T is exactly what you need.  In fact it may be all you need for the foreseeable future as well.  In retrospect, the only thing I really missed during my time with the CT-650T is a modular cable system found in CoolMax CU power supply line.

Lowest Price: $149.99 at Newegg.com

Club Overclocker Rating
Innovation:	7.0 out of 10
Performance:	8.5 out of 10
Quality:	8.5 out of 10
Stability:	8.0 out of 10
Overclocking:	N/A
Software/Drivers Pack:	N/A
Value:	7.5 out of 10
Overall Rating 8.0
Skill Level
Project Skill Level (10 being hardest)	4 out of 10